Mankind’s worst nightmare

There are times when I would walk into the cinemas and try to figure out then and there what to watch.

I haven’t really been watching movies the past week, so I don’t know what the new releases are.

The only thing I was excited about was the popcorn! I always use “researching” as great excuse to cheat on my diet and my schedule sometimes.

Last week, I tried to go to the theater thrice but had no luck purchasing tickets for the family to watch Sakal, Sakali, Saklolo.

The tickets were all sold out. No kidding. It was frustrating, but it gave me such a nice feeling knowing that a film I was in is doing really well at the box-office.

This is the perfect time to say it’s not the story or the actors that matter. Neither is it just the director who makes a good movie, but the team itself.

Every single person in that project has a very important role, whether it’s in front or behind the camera.

Sakal, Sakali, Saklolo is a very simple story of a typical Filipino couple starting a family.

Again, Judy Ann Santos and Ryan Agoncillo proved they know their craft very well. They showed that their tandem on or off-screen can be a great hit.

Congratulations on their success in this film.

It saddens me to see that their TV soap Ysabella, airing daily on ABS-CBN, is about to end.

The soap has been going for so long, it just seems to be never ending and is even getting better every day.

I wish it didn’t have to end. But then, it wouldn’t be a story if it has no ending. I’m looking forward to a strong ending this coming week.

Story endings are critical, because this is when the audience sums up its impressions on the project.

There are times when movies start out really lousy and end with a big bang.

I Am Legend was the most recent excuse I had for getting popcorn. This is the third film version from Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel I Am Legend, following The Last Man On Earth in 1964 and The Omega Man in 1971.

I Am Legend is a science fiction horror film directed by Francis Lawrence, the man behind Constantine.

Will Smith plays virologist Robert Neville, who thinks he is the only one unaffected by the virus which turns everyone into vampire-like creatures that come out at night.

Neville is determined to find a cure for this, after he loses all his loved ones, including his wife and daughter.

The story was supposed to be shot in Los Angeles. But it was later decided that filming in New York will enhance the idea of a city dying after the virus infects it.

Opening with a scene in 2012, flashbacks from 2009 and recorded news reveal how something originally meant to be a cure for cancer turns into the world’s worst nightmare.

By the end of the year, almost 90 percent of the planet’s human population has died, leaving nine percent alive and infected by the virus. The remaining one percent, including Neville, got immune and is getting haunted by the infected ones.

For three long years, he has lived only with his dog Sam (Samantha) while continuously doing a series of tests on infected humans and animals to find a cure.

The special effects on the infected victims were outstanding.

They were supposed to be portrayed by actors wearing prosthetics, but the director felt they weren’t convincing enough and decided to use Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI), which extended the preparation.

Warner Bros. Pictures began developing the film in 1994, but kept on getting delays due to script-related concerns.

The film is outstanding. But it would have been much better if they spiced up the ending some more.

Most of those I’ve asked about the film agree.

Have a blessed Sunday!